I have a few major projects I intend to complete each winter and I am making good headway on the ones for this year. I managed to get this blog updated in a major way a few days ago, I have created some new websites, and I am learning how to use video.

The introspection comes of its own accord at this time of year. It is a good time to go into an internal quiet and observe all the patterns of energy. After the upheaval of a tumultuous fall, this winter has a special sort of inner stillness to it.

One method I use a lot is to open a CCT session and invite my guides and the nature spirits to show me what I need to know about my energies. This can be both surprising and enlightening when they respond, which they do quite promptly.

Often I am doing better than I give myself credit for doing, and equally often my attention is drawn to a pattern I had not been noticing consciously. If it needs some sort of work, I am already in a CCT session so it is the perfect time to address whatever needs attention.

I would be interested in hearing how each of you work with the energies of winter in your own lives. I realize for some of you, you actually are in the glory of summer, but I would still like your input, either about your summer energies or winter ones.

Copyright © Lexi Sundell 2007. All Rights Reserved.

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I suggest you select a goal that you think is out of reach but that is deeply meaningful and important to you. Follow the five ways to be more creative and you may find yourself accomplishing your goal in unexpected ways.

1. Make a list, as long as you want, of ways you can imagine accomplishing your goal. Be thorough. When complete, go to the next step.
2. Become receptive to new solutions. Release preconceived mental blocks and self limiting beliefs. It is astonishing how we cage ourselves with beliefs we have been absorbing since childhood. Eliminating these taken-for-granted beliefs is vital to be able to recognize new opportunities when they present themselves. Any time you think there is only one way to accomplish something, you are showing yourself you are trapped in an unworkable belief system.
3. Throw the first list away and start a new one. Do not tell me you already thought of everything because you merely thought of whatever was most obvious in making the first list. Now is the time to get creative! Make a new list of at least ten more ways to accomplish your goal. These should be ways that do not require an act of God but that you can begin implementing yourself.
4. Continue imagining different ways your goal could be accomplished, daydream about it. Allow yourself quiet times of reflection to allow new ideas to surface in your mind. Do not judge the ideas during your quiet time; just allow them to arise so you can see them. Remember how important your goal is to you and make it a high priority to give yourself these relaxed times of reflection.
5. Take action on your best ideas. Select the best new ideas from your list or that arise in your quiet reflective moments and take action on them. Ideas only become useful when they are enacted, so continue acting daily on the best fresh new ideas you have invited into your awareness in this process.

As you increase your creative flexibility, your actions will generate increasingly positive results working with this process. Let me know what happens for you when you follow these five ways to creatively acheive your goal.

Copyright © Lexi Sundell 2007. All Rights Reserved.

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In my business as a gallery owner I wear many hats during any given day, with all the myriad demands of managing the business, working with clients, working with our artists, producing our ads and promotional materials, etc. In addition to those tasks, I paint large florals and create custom jewelry.

While I admire people who can schedule their time precisely and make that kind of system work efficiently, my own life is composed primarily of interruptions. In fact, even my interruptions get interrupted!

So if I tackle a large project with tight deadlines, this is a major productivity challenge. Recently when I was working on a book project with a publisher in London, I had some extreme pressure in that regard. I produced nearly 50 paintings and all of the text required in a very short span of time.

I used my main strengths, the ability to focus intensely, the ability to create a strong flow in my work, and relentless effort applied to the project. In order not to be interrupted, I often was at the gallery working at my easel in the wee hours of the morning when I could produce high quality paintings in a concentrated manner.

I also reduced the demands on my time from other facets of my life as much as possible, resigning from some community groups and letting my massive gardens run amok.

However, this has not yet stated my single most important secret underlying all of these approaches to productivity. That is to maintain my enthusiasm for the project. If I keep my enthusiasm high, all the rest tends to fall into place even if I am one weary person by the end of it all.

If you would like to interrupt whatever you are doing right now and share your own secrets about being productive, consider yourself tagged! Place a link to Ben and myself, and any of the other participants you wish to include in your article and we will be delighted to see what you have to say!

Copyright © Lexi Sundell 2007. All Rights Reserved.

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I had started far too late in the day. Alamos is about a 13 hour trip from Scottsdale, Arizona and I had been instructed not to make the drive after dark. That particular instruction had made my friend Candy nearly panic. She was sure I would be killed by banditos.

I did not believe it, but to calm her down I emailed Gia and asked why I should not drive it in the dark. Her reply was that the road from Navajoa to Alamos was a narrow winding road going up into the mountains. This road was full of potholes and populated by wandering black cows at night.

Candy remained unconvinced, but I was going anyway.

My plan was to leave at sunrise so I could arrive in Alamos before nightfall. Unfortunately the evening before the trip I discovered the bank would not let my husband access our checking account and the problem could not be corrected until the bank opened in the morning. Wells Fargo had massively inefficient customer service so it was nearly 11 a.m. before they fixed their error.

I was distressed at the extremely late start, but as I thought about it, my intuition kicked into gear. I knew I would be just fine, no matter when I left. I relaxed and finished a few more unexpected errands and rolled onto the highway by noon.

Traffic was uneventful until I crossed the border. My introductory semi truck swerved at the last minute into his proper lane. I had not recovered from that near miss when I saw the bicyclist riding towards me, also in my lane. He casually dodged me too.

I had never driven in Mexico but I quickly discovered road signs such as speed limits are taken more as a challenge than as a directive. I practice due respect for proper lane usage but no one else seemed even slightly concerned about what lane they used or how they used it.

My intuition still said I was going to be fine if I stayed alert and kept going.

It was sunset when I reached Hermosillo. My inept Spanish was so rusty from lack of use I could barely remember how to request the bathroom. I definitely did not want to get lost in Hermosillo trying to follow the highway through the city. My emailed instructions said to stay with the truckers to correctly follow the route.

At the first red light I stopped. All the truckers ran the red light, leaving me sitting at the light without a solitary truck in sight.

The email had specified I turn left at that first light. When it went green I was horrified to be caught in the midst of two lanes of left turning cars merrily swapping lanes as we went through the intersection.

My rock solid certainty that I would be fine suddenly brought the utter absurdity of the situation into extreme focus. I began to laugh as I drove through Hermosillo with no particular idea how I would find my way out of town on the correct highway.

I discovered the slow down bumps in the road are large enough to rip the undercarriage out of a bus. They have to be, since that is the only thing that slows anyone down, including the bus drivers. Or perhaps especially the bus drivers.

The painted lines for the lane divisions were badly worn and could be seen only part of the time. I abandoned staying in my lane and busily worked at keeping my fenders intact. I drove just like everyone around me, so I was not too surprised when the center line appeared and I was totally on the wrong side of it. I quickly moved to the right side and no one even honked at me.

I saw wonderfully creative repairs and alterations to cars and trucks. My favorite was the unique turn signal on one old car. This improvised signal looked rather like a lollipop and the lights blinked round and round in a circle, spinning whichever way the driver intended to go. This lovely device was thoughtfully placed in front of the license plate, obscuring most of it.

I was still laughing as I found myself driving south out of town on the correct highway, a completely serendipitous occurrence.

By now dark had fallen. The highway was a good road but had only two narrow lanes with no shoulders. The buses blasted along at terrific speeds, usually in the middle of the road. I began to be thankful for each one of them that stayed in its lane as we went by each other.

By the time I arrived at Navajoa and left the main highway, a narrow winding road full of potholes and black cows seemed like a marvelous improvement. I could just drive slowly and not be killed.

I arrived at Alamos about 1 a.m. Still following my email instructions I actually located the green metal gate at the entrance to my friend’s compound. I did not want to wake anyone at that late hour but their dogs raised such an uproar Gia came to the gate and invited me to bring the van inside.

When she went back to bed, she told her husband I had safely made the drive in the dark. He was horrified. She said something about God protecting the innocent.

He replied, “Or the foolish! I am Mexican and I would not drive that at night!”

My nocturnal drive in Mexico was perhaps the most dramatic example of intuition combined with creative flow I have ever experienced in my life. As an artist I practice a strong creative energy flow in my work, but I would love to hold the exquisite razor edge balance I found in Mexico as a constant throughout my life.

Alas, I fall short. Still, the trip stands in my memory, a reminder of boundless possibilities. I shall continue to practice…

Copyright © Lexi Sundell 2007. All Rights Reserved.

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